Networks, such as local area networks (i.e., LANs) and wide area networks (i.e., WANs, e.g., the Internet), enable a plurality of nodes to communicate with each other. Nodes can include computers, servers, storage devices, mobile devices, PDAs, wireless telephones, etc. Networks can include the nodes themselves, a connecting medium (wired, wireless and/or a combination of wired and wireless), and network switching systems such as routers, hubs and/or switches.
Networks can be arranged in a variety of topologies or combinations of topologies. Typical topologies include a bus topology, a ring topology, a star topology, and combinations such as a star bus topology (also referred to as a tree topology). In a bus topology, all nodes are communicatively coupled to a bus or backbone. Networks that use a bus topology, such as Ethernet, are generally easy to set up and maintain.
In a ring topology, the nodes are communicatively coupled in a closed loop structure. Accordingly, each node is communicatively coupled to only two other nodes. Networks using a ring topology can be hard to install and maintain. However, ring topologies can enable high-speed communication over large distances.
In a star topology, all nodes are communicatively coupled to a hub. The hub enables communication between nodes by passing data received from one node to a second node. Networks using a star topology are relatively easy to set up and maintain and are therefore very common.
A star bus topology is a combination of star and bus topologies. Generally, groups of networks using star topologies are interconnected for communication using a bus topology. This type of topology is also very common for networks.
As many networks use a star topology or star bus topology, network switching systems are extremely important network devices. For example, if a component of a hub fails or the hub itself fails, a portion or the entire network that uses the hub could become disabled. There are three different types of hubs including a passive hub, an intelligent hub, and a switching hub. A passive hub simply retransmits data received from a node to all other nodes. Intelligent hubs operate similarly to passive hubs but also enable monitoring of data transmitted over the network. Switching hubs (also referred to as switches) only retransmit data received from one node to a specified destination node in an address of the packet of the data (unless the data is designated as multicast). Accordingly, switching hubs enable increased bandwidth on a network compared to other types hubs by only transmitting data to specified destination nodes.
Network switching systems such as switches use line cards to receive data from nodes and retransmit received data to other nodes. Line cards are printed circuit boards (PCBs) that provide receiving/transmitting ports that are communicatively coupled to nodes and to a backplane of the switch. In general, for each node on a network, a switch has two line cards: one that is active and one that is a backup (also referred to as a hot-standby line card). If the active line card fails, the backup line card takes over thereby preventing a failure of the network. However, conventional line card switchovers are done by network software in the switch. Therefore, switchovers can take several seconds leading to the possible loss of large amounts of data, especially in high bandwidth networks.
Accordingly, a new IP network card backup system and method are needed that overcome the disadvantages mentioned above.